Critical Hits Tables

Critical Hits For a critical hit to occur, a natural 20 must be rolled on the attack die. Then, the character rolls a normal attack roll against the opponent’s Armor Class. If the roll is high enough to hit the opponent’s AC, it is a critical hit. Roll a d10 to determine location, then roll percentile dice on the table according to weapon type and the type of monster the character is fighting. The opponent does receive a saving throw vs. death to avoid the effects of a critical hit. Even if the normal attack roll indicates a miss against the opponent’s Armor Class or the opponent makes the saving throw, the character still inflicts maximum damage on the attack. If an “armor damaged” results, the armor must save vs. crushing blow or suffer a +1 penalty to the victim’s Armor Class, which is permanent until the armor is repaired.

Location

The critical hit charts include a number of specific injuries that go beyond a simple loss of hit points. Wounds are divided into five degrees of severity: grazed, struck, injured, broken, and finally shattered, severed, or crushed.

Wounds should be recorded on the character sheet. Attack and movement penalties remain until the injury that created the penalty has healed. Wounds are always accompanied by some loss of hit points, but a specific injury isn’t damage per se; consider it a temporary penalty that the character has to put up with until it is restored.

For example, Feodor the Bold is fighting an ogre armed with a club. The ogre scores a critical hit, rolling a 6 for location and a 7 for severity. Feodor’s torso has been struck, a wound that reduces him to 1/2 his normal move and gives him a –2 penalty to any attack rolls he makes. (It also puts a healthy dent in his nice plate mail.) Feodor’s penalties remain until he recovers from his “torso struck” specific injury.

Let’s say that Feodor had 16 hit points, and the ogre’s blow inflicted 12 points of damage. The missing 12 hit points can eventually be recovered, but Feodor’s penalties remain until the “torso struck” specific injury heals.

Severe injuries can temporarily reduce a character’s maximum allowable hit points. In other words, a fighter with a broken leg will not be allowed to enjoy his full allotment of hit points until his broken leg is repaired. If the character has more hit points than he is currently allowed, he is reduced to the injured value when the current battle is over. This represents the increased vulnerability of badly wounded characters. For example, if a fighter with 30 hit points receives 10 points of damage and an “arm destroyed” injury that reduces him to 50% of his normal hit points, he drops from 20 to 15 when the battle is concluded and remains at 15 until his ruined arm is somehow healed. Remember, though, that specific injuries are only inflicted if the victim fails a saving throw vs. death.

Grazed: Grazes are minor injuries that may prove troublesome if they bleed. A cure light wounds spell or other healing magic capable of restoring 4 hp will heal a graze. (The cure light wounds spell doesn’t have to actually restore that many points; it just must be capable of doing so.) Grazes also heal naturally as if they were a loss of 1d6 hp. In other words, if a graze is the equivalent of a 3-hp wound, two days of rest heal it completely, since characters normally recover 2 hp per full day of rest. Note that the graze isn’t tied to the character’s actual loss of hit points in any way. If a grazed character receives healing magic, the graze is healed and he gets to recover hit points.

Struck: A body part that has been struck is often penalized in a small way for the effects of the wound. For example, a critical hit that reads, “weapon hand struck, -2 penalty to attacks,” means that the character has a -2 attack penalty with his weapon hand until the wound is healed. Injuries of this type can be healed by a cure light wounds spell or other healing magic capable of restoring 5 hp of damage. Struck areas heal naturally as if they were a loss of 2d6 hp.

Injured: Wounds of this severity can trouble a character for weeks; they heal naturally as if they were a loss of 10d6 hp. A cure serious wounds spell or other healing magic capable of restoring 10 hit points can also repair the injury. Injuries almost always entail serious combat penalties for the wounded character. Injured arms, legs, or tails reduce a character to 75% of his normal hit points. An injury to the abdomen, torso, or head reduces a character to 50% of his normal hit points. A 25-hp character with a chest injury can have no more than 13 hit points until his injury is healed (and could have a lot less than that if he continues to suffer damage!)

Broken: Broken bones run the gamut from minor fractures that don’t hinder a character at all to life-threatening compound fractures. Generally, the previous two injury categories are considered to include minor breaks or cracks; this category is reserved for severe fractures. Broken bones can be mended by a cure serious wounds spell that is devoted just to knitting the bone; unlike grazed, struck, or injured, the character regains no hit points from a spell used in this way. Broken bones heal naturally as if they were 20d6 lost hit points, so bed rest in the care of a proficient healer is a really good idea if the injured character is planning on resuming his adventuring career anytime soon. Broken arms reduce a character to 75% of his normal hit points. Broken ribs or legs reduce a character to 50% of his normal hit points. Any other broken bones reduce a character to 25% of his normal hit points.

Crushed, Shattered, or Destroyed: Limbs that suffer this kind of catastrophic injury may never be usable again; hits to the torso, abdomen or head of this magnitude are often lethal. If the victim survives, he will never naturally recover to his normal self. A limb damaged this way will be useless for the rest of his life, and hits anywhere else will leave the victim incapacitated. The victim will be bedridden for at least one to eight months before he can even regain a semblance of mobility. A cure critical wounds spell or other healing magic capable of restoring 20 hp of damage can repair the damage of this kind of injury. In addition, the bones of the affected area (if any) are assumed to be broken and may require another application of healing magic to repair. Destroyed shoulders, hips, or limbs reduce the victim to 50% of his normal maximum hit points. Any other wounds of this magnitude reduce the victim to 25% of his normal total.

Severed: Obviously, a creature that has a limb severed can no longer engage in activities that require the use of that member. A human with a severed leg can’t walk or run and is reduced to crawling until he gets a crutch. A character with a severed shield-arm can’t use a shield anymore, and so on. The only way to undo this kind of damage is by means of a regeneration spell. The shock of losing a limb will prevent a character from moving independently or attacking for 2d10 weeks. At the DM’s discretion, a character who “only” loses a hand or a foot may actually be able to perform limited activities after being stunned 1d6 rounds, but only by passing a System Shock roll. However, characters who sustain such massive injuries are best off abandoning the field to their enemies. The loss of a limb will reduce a character’s maximum normal hit points by 25% for a partial loss, or 50% for a more catastrophic loss. If the character can compensate with a wooden leg or hook, the hit point loss may be reduced by one step.

Critical Hit Effects

There are several possible effects of injuries caused by critical hits: bleeding, attack penalties, movement penalties, knockdowns, dropped weapons or shields, and possible armor or shield damage. Some of these conditions are temporary (a dropped weapon can be picked up), while others remain until the injury that created the effect is healed. Any damage or other types of effects are marked off during the End-of-Round step if the Player’s Option combat system is also used.

Bleeding: A character with minor bleeding loses an additional 1d2 hp per full turn until the wound is magically healed or bound. In addition, there is a chance that minor bleeding will stop on its own. The character may roll a saving throw vs. death each time he suffers damage from minor bleeding; if he is successful, the bleeding stops. Anybody can stop minor bleeding by applying a bandage or otherwise addressing the injury. This takes 1d6 combat rounds or a single one-minute round. Major bleeding results in a loss of 1d2 hp per combat round until the wound is magically healed or bound. Left untreated, major bleeding can easily cause a character’s death. In effect, the -10 rule represents major bleeding; the character loses 1 hp per round when reduced to negative hit points. Major bleeding can be stopped by a cure light wounds spell (the victim recovers hit points, too), the healing of 5 hp of damage by any other magical means, or by a successful use of the healing proficiency. If the wound is bound by an untrained character, make an Intelligence check for the would-be medic. If he fails, he is unable to help. If he makes the check, the bleeding is reduced to minor. Severe bleeding causes the victim to lose 10–60% (1d6x10%) of his original hit point total every combat round. For example, if a fighter normally has 43 hit points but receives a severe bleeding result, he loses 4 hp (10%) to 24 hp (60%) in each round of severe bleeding. Needless to say, this is extremely lethal. A cure light wounds spell (or 5 hp of healing) will reduce severe bleeding to major bleeding; a cure serious wounds spell (or 10 hp of healing) reduces it to minor bleeding; and a cure critical wounds or heal spell stops it altogether. An untrained character has no chance to bind a torso, abdomen, or head wound with severe bleeding, but a successful use of the healing proficiency with a –4 penalty reduces severe bleeding to major bleeding. Note that once a character drops below 0 hit points, regardless of the number and combination of wounds she is suffering from, she only suffers the effects of major bleeding (i.e., only 1 hit point is deducted per round).

Attack Penalties: Many critical hits hamper the victim’s ability to fight, resulting in an attack penalty. This is noted as applying to all attacks or to attacks with the particular limb that was injured. Other critical hits may prevent the victim from making attacks at all. If a critical hit prevents a character from making attacks, it also prevents him from casting spells or exercising any other combat action except moving or using magical items.

Movement Penalties: Hits to the legs and body may penalize a character’s ability to move. Usually, this is expressed as “1/2 move”, “1/3 move”, and so on. If the character’s movement is limited, he may not charge, run, or sprint; he can only move by using the reduced rate. A character with no movement at all can still ride a mount with difficulty, or drag himself on the ground with an effective movement rate of 1.

Knockdowns: If a critical hit calls for a knockdown, the victim is still entitled to a saving throw to avoid falling down.

Armor and Shield Damage: Some critical hits call for possible damage to a creature’s armor or shield. If the victim of the hit has no armor at that location, the blow is usually assumed to have more severe effects than if the character was protected. The armor descriptions in Chapter Seven deal with the coverage of each type of armor. If the creature struck does have a shield or armor to deflect the blow, it may be damaged if the chart calls for it. First of all, the victim gets his normal saving throw roll to avoid the effects of the critical hit; if the roll is successful, there is no special effect for the hit. If the roll fails, his armor or shield must roll an item saving throw vs. normal blow with the number of points of damage (before doubling) used as a negative modifier for the save. If the attacker’s weapon is larger than the defender (for example, a Size L halberd striking a Size M human), the save is rolled against a crushing blow, instead.

For example, remember the ogre’s critical hit on poor Feodor? That result also called for possible armor damage. The ogre’s club is Size L, so the item saving throw is against a crushing, not a normal, blow. Feodor is in metal plate mail, which has a saving throw of 7 vs. crushing blow. The ogre did 6 points of damage before doubling for the critical hit, so Feodor’s armor is safe on a roll of 13 or more on a d20.

A damaged shield is useless. If armor is damaged, only the location struck is useless, and it no longer contributes to the overall AC of the suit. Refer to the rules for Partial Armor in Chapter Seven. In the example above, Feodor was struck on the torso. If his armor failed its item saving throw, only his breastplate would be ruined. A plate mail breastplate contributes 3 points to his AC, so Feodor’s AC worsens from AC 3 to AC 6. Damaged equipment can be repaired by a skilled armorer or by magical means.

Fumbles When a natural 1 is rolled on the attack die, there is a possibility that the failed attack causes a fumble. Roll a normal attack roll against the opponent’s AC and if a miss results, roll percentile dice and consult the table below. Whether there is a fumble or not, a natural 1 rolled on the attack die, the character loses all other actions in that melee round. For those situations that do not apply to the dice roll (a shield or helm fumble when the character has no helm or shield), re-roll the result.